The Milky Way
The phrase “the Milky Way” first appears in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The House of Fame (c. 1380).
Gentleman ?
Never for reference to a mass murderer.
Errand, errant
I wondered: could errand and errant be related? Isn’t a knight errant, roving about, kinda like on an errand sort of, maybe?
Beauty , defined, undefined
There’s something risible about the head of a cosmetics conglomerate pushing for a redefinition — or undefinition — of beauty.
Crafted, baked
I noticed this morning: Pepperidge Farm now packages its bread as “Crafted Baked Goods.”
“Older”
I liked this detail from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s address to the House yesterday, as he moved through a catalogue of American lives: “We are young. We are older.” “Older” — not “old.”
Word of the week: shitshow
Yep, in the House.
“Antic grace”
Where does that phrase come from?
Word of the day: game-changer
It’s in a Julia episode set in 1963. Did people really say “game-changer” in 1963?
“Older person”
In The Washington Post, Gary Abernathy writes about ageism and how it grates.
Rudolph and reindeer, explained
“Quick etymology.”
Word of the day: commuter
It appears in a Nancy strip in 1950. How old is the word?
NYT Letter Boxed fail
GRIMPEN.
Word of the day: niche
Is the English word “niche” related to “nicher” ? Maybe, possibly, maybe, perhaps.
Recently updated
“Woman”: another word of the year.
New to me: decadal
I would just say decade-long.
Recently updated
The words of the year now include goblin mode.
In the Appellation Mountains
Margarine is served for dessert in the Appellation Mountains, a region ravaged by the Cupertino effect. In other regions, the dessert is called meringue.
WRONG
Wordle answers that are not puns.
Recently updated
Words of the year, now with gaslighting.
Whence bebop?
Merriam-Webster on the origin of bebop.
Recently updated
Words of the year, now with “teal.”
Vote for a word of the year
Oxford Languages is asking the public to vote for a word of the year.
Recently updated
Another word of the year: “homer.”
Word of the day: fanboy
Many a teacher will know fanboys as a mnemonic to help students remember the seven coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
No FOXES
The New York Times now as a Wordle editor, Tracy Bennett. And the game will have a Times-made word list and a new rule: no -es or -s plural forms of three- or four-letter words.
Words of the year
From the Collins Dictionary, permacrisis, “a term that describes ‘an extended period of instability and insecurity.’”
Borometer
Elaine thought it up, but she left it for me to do the work of defining.
Abyssinia
I had a pleasantly disorienting moment while doing yesterday’s Newsday crossword. The puzzle was by Stan Newman; the theme, “Famous Last Words.” 28-A, nine letters, “Last word (1920s).” The answer: ABYSSINIA.
A series of legal troubles?
’d like to say a sea of legal troubles, but that would hardly be acceptable to NPR, and besides, I shudder at the thought of a metaphor that would point to taking up arms. A big fat mess of legal troubles? A diaperload of legal troubles? Perhaps just a number of legal troubles.